Are we finally on the brink of a clean energy revolution? Aired April 20, 2011 on PBS

Program Description

Can emerging technology defeat global warming? The United States has invested tens of billions of dollars in clean energy projects as our leaders try to save our crumbling economy and our poisoned planet in one bold, green stroke. Are we finally on the brink of a green-energy "power surge," or is it all a case of too little, too late?

From solar panel factories in China to a carbon capture-and-storage facility in the Sahara desert to massive wind and solar installations in the United States, NOVA travels the globe to reveal the surprising technologies that just might turn back the clock on climate change. NOVA will focus on the latest and greatest innovations, including everything from artificial trees to green reboots of familiar technologies like coal and nuclear energy. Can our technology, which helped create this problem, now solve it?

Learn more about the "carbon calculator" discussed in the program at this site from the Cool Climate Network.

Algae biofuel was hot, then cold. Now it looks to be warming up again—kinda, sorta, maybe.

San Diego-based Cellana is the latest example of an aspiring algae biofuel company that has been given a chance to turn things around, after the hype of the past few years died down. The company (previously known as HR BioPetroleum) is announcing today that it has struck a multi-year, non-exclusive agreement with Finland-basedNeste Oil, in which Neste has agreed to purchase large volumes of Cellana’s algae-based crude oil if Cellana can scale up.

That’s always a big “if” in the algae biofuel business, where most ideas never make it beyond the laboratory bench, but if Cellana can pull off that feat, it could end up selling $75 million to $100 million of algae crude oil for refining to Neste, says Michael Kamdar, a veteran biotech executive who was named as president of Cellana last month. Neste generated about 18 billion euros of revenue last year.